Irrational Fears Rationalized
by JayTheBird
Summary: Just a little drabble on fears and some character bonding between Tails and Knuckles. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Enjoy!


**This story is just me rambling about stuff I noticed when reading fanfiction. In most fics the fears Sonic, Tails and Knuckles have are either irrational or connected to some moment in their pasts. I have a hard time believing it's that simple just because their fears fit so well within their personalities. So yeah, this is what I made out of it. Also some Tails and Knuckles bonding, because there ain't too many fics about them. Also, I've never really heard of that many mentions about Knuckles being scared of ghosts. At least not as much as Sonic being afraid of water and Tails being scared of lightning. So yeah, if it isn't exactly cannon, I'm sorry, just try to roll with it anyway ;)**

 **Enjoy!**

Irrational fears rationalized

"Nice going, hedgehog," Knuckles seethes, unable to keep his frustration under wraps for any longer. Being dragged away from Angel Island for an entire day tends to shorten his fuse considerably and the nagging worry for leaving the Master Emerald unguarded is now getting the better of him. He doesn't like being away from home. As the last Echidna on the entire planet, he has more important duties to fulfil than tagging along with Sonic and Tails on one of their whimsical adventures to stop Eggman again. And before they all met, Sonic was doing alright too, didn't he? What does he need Knuckles for when he can do his life-risking maneuverers by himself just fine?

On the other hand, whenever the duo asks for his help, he won't ignore them as long as they can convince him it's urgent enough. And this time it really was. Eggman had built a new base, and it managed to stay under Tails' radar long enough for the doc to draw up new blueprints and to produce deathlier and more durable robots on a large scale. It was important to take the entire base down before the numbers of 'bots would reach critical levels. Being the muscle of the team, Knuckles understands why they wanted his help.

But here they are now. The base is inoperable but Eggman escaped together with most of the data he had created so far. He could have another 'bot-factory up and running within weeks and they would be back at square one. And that's all Sonic's fault.

"Quit it, Knucklehead."

Sonic grinds out the familiar, and rather annoying, nickname. Knuckles figures Sonic isn't as angry with him as the blue hedgehog is with himself. They are often on each other's cases, but never has Sonic been brooding like this.

"I said I was sorry. It isn't like I could help it or anything."

Violet eyes meet electric green, neither of the two wanting to be the first to break the glare they are sending the other. Eventually they have to though, as Tails announces their landing. When the fox guides the plane to the ground, Sonic jumps off, clearing the last 100 feet by dropping down and tucking himself into a ball.

Tails lets out a sigh of which Knuckles can't decide if it is out of annoyance or resignation. The fox turns to his only passenger left.

"You want me to fly you home?"

"Yeah, if you can," Knuckles answers, settling back on the plane's wing while he tries to spot Sonic down below. Maybe he went a little too far by calling Sonic out on his mistakes. On the other hand, the hedgehog shouldn't be pouting like a kid and just take the criticism for once. He isn't a child anymore, and if he wants to save the world, he shouldn't be acting like one either.

"You know he would never screw up a mission on purpose, right?"

Knuckles huffs out his response. Leave it to Tails to try and solve an argument he isn't even part off. And what surprises him even less, is that the fox seems to be taking Sonic's side.

"Really, this wasn't his fault," Tails continues, oblivious to Knuckles' thoughts. "We all have our fears, and it's okay if they hold us back sometimes. Sonic will get over it eventually. But you aren't going to help that process if you keep reminding him of it of what he did wrong."

"Well, it's not my fault he can't handle criticism. He almost got us killed back there and he should know about it. Maybe it'll finally put some hair on his chest and get him to take some swimming lessons."

His irritation creeps back up and Knuckles tries his best not to take it out on Tails. But if it wasn't for the fox, Knuckles would've found Sonic a nice lake and dumped him into it years ago. The hedgehog would have to learn somehow and with him being the stubborn scaredy 'hog he is, Knuckles needs Tails on his side to actually make it happen. And to be honest, Knuckles doesn't get why neither of them acknowledge the trouble Sonic's aquafobia causes for the team. Eggman is well-informed about Sonic's fear and will use it against him any chance he gets. There will be a time when Tails won't be there to fly Sonic over the water. There will be a time when Knuckles won't be able to drag his sorry, blue, water-logged butt to dry land.

"Seriously Tails," Knuckles huffs. "If Sonic doesn't want to drown someday, he's going to have to get over this stupid, irrational fear of getting wet and just take the plunch."

For a moment, both are silent and Knuckles thinks he may finally have won this argument, but then:

"Do you really think Sonic's fear is irrational?"

Knuckles can't look Tails in the eyes, since the fox is concentrating on the skies around them, but he can practically feel the blue gems burning holes into him. The question seems innocent enough, but even at eight years old, with a genius like Tails nothing is innocent anymore. The fox is challenging Knuckles, giving the echidna the opportunity to make his statement but secretly harbouring the argument that's going to win the debate long before it even started.

"Well, as far as I know, he's never even dared to take a single step into the water. If this is all about some traumatic event in which he almost drowned, he should get over it. Everyone can learn to swim. If he learns how to do it, there's no reason for him to be afraid anymore because he won't be sinking like a rock whenever he falls into a pool over three feet deep."

Tails merely shakes his head, busying himself with a couple of controls for a while so he can avoid answering Knuckles immediately. The Echidna lets him. He knows it's a dumb idea to interrupt the fox when he's thinking and he really doesn't want to startle him now that they're thousands of feet above the ground. Knuckles isn't exactly steady, balancing himself on the plane's wing, and he knows a single jerk at the controls can end him in a splat on the ground.

Eventually Tails starts speaking again.

"You don't understand.

And what a stupid thing to say. How he hates that people keep telling him that. When he lived on his island alone, without any contact with another living being other than an occasional bird, not understanding never bothered him. Sure, he doesn't know his ancestors or even his parents. All he knows are ancient carvings on long-collapsed buildings and broken-down walls. And that's all he ever needed to understand that his place was right next to the Master Emerald. And that it would always be.

But now everything is different. He had no idea that along with meeting new people, his life would suddenly be so complicated. That all of the sudden, there is more that he needs to understand. And he isn't sure if he wants to do something like that just yet. He was fine with his calm, slow and peaceful life on his island, spending his days snoozing and relaxing. How did he get wrapped up in some kind of superhero-team anyway? And with an annoying pest of a hedgehog for that matter?

"What don't I understand, Tails?" he sighs. The least he can do is listen to the fox now that the eight-year-old offered to fly him home. It's polite, right?

"You don't understand where Sonic's fear is coming from. It isn't just the water that scares him, it's about the conditions when he's in the water. They're not in his favour."

"Yeah, 'cause the Buthead refuses to learn to swim," Knuckles quickly rationalizes.

"No, not because he can't swim. It's because he can't run. He can't go fast in the water. And that scares him."

To say the statement surprised Knuckles is an understatement. What now? He tries to get eye-contact with Tails, trying to figure out if he meant what he said or if he just tries to get Knuckles to quit being on Sonic's case about this. It wouldn't be the first time the two brothers would side together, even when it gets them into trouble. But Tails easily avoids the echidna's eyes, keeping a steady gaze on the skies in front of him.

"What do you mean?" Knuckles can't help but ask, actually interested for once. When he started helping out Tails and Sonic occasionally, he thought the only thing he needed to know about them was their strengths and weaknesses. But finding out about the reason why Sonic was afraid, actually intrigued him. He feels like he's going to get an insight into the Blue Blur not many people have had before.

"Well, what I mean is that it makes sense Sonic refuses to go into the water. Like, we all have our strengths, and when we were animals, those strengths helped us to survive. Sure, Mobians are way more civilized than our feral ancestors were, but we still share basic instincts. Animals won't go anywhere where their chance of survival gets slimmer. Same goes for Sonic, even if he isn't consciously aware of it. His strength is his speed. It's his best offense and defence and he relies on his legs for almost everything Eggman-related. Now, if he would lose his speed, he would lose the ability to make a quick escape and to build up enough velocity to execute an effective attack. Therefore it's against his nature to go anywhere near a place where this would be the case. Like when he's in water. It's slows him down and instinct tells him he should fear that."

Knuckles had been listening intently to every word Tails told him. His brain went into overdrive, trying to piece together all the information the boy-genius had just given him. So absorbed with understanding what Tails tries to tell him, he hardly notices it when he starts wondering out loud:

"So Sonic's fear isn't rational or irrational, it's just instinctive?"

Tails shrugs, a small smile fighting for a place on his stoic face. He's glad the echidna actually makes an effort to listen to him and takes him seriously. He hadn't really expected it from the brash and hard-headed guardian. Especially because of his anti-social tendencies. Knuckles engaging in a conversation that doesn't necessarily concern him, gives Tails hope for a relationship beyond that of allies. A friendship, maybe.

"I've never really thought about it, but sure. It sounds like it. After all, Sonic can't really explain his fear of the water to anyone. According to him, it's just there, like a part of him. But considering that there actually is a good reason for him to be weary around it, I have a hard time calling it irrational. So yeah, let's go with an instinctual fear."

The red echidna slowly nods to himself. He doesn't realize it, but his grip on the airplane's wing loosens slightly and his shoulders sag a little. Normally he can only relax when he has the Master Emerald in his sights. This whole experience of having a conversation while flying thousands of feet in the air, is rather new to him but enjoyable all the same. He understands why Tails tends to take to the air when he is stressed. Being up high with nothing around you but the great, open sky is soothing. An idea springs to mind.

"Is that what's going on with you and your fear of lightening? Is it instinct, too?"

Tails almost chokes on his own spit as the echidna says this.

"W-what do you m-mean?" he asks innocently, silently fuming at himself for stuttering and unable to keep the growing blush of his face.

"Well, Sonic told me you're really scared of lightening," Knuckles honestly answers, oblivious to the redness on Tails' face. The fox absolutely needed to talk to Sonic as soon as the hedgehog had calmed down. He isn't too fond of his big brother blabbering about this kind of personal information in public.

"He said you've been like that ever since he met you. And, you know, since you fly a lot and all, I just thought it could have something to do with instinct as well."

Tails thinks the words over for a while. Could Knuckles be right? It's true that flying means the world to him. His mutation is the reason of his crappy start in life, but all the same it's thanks to his two tails that he survived his ordeal. At least up until he met Sonic. But even after that the flying, just like Sonic's running, is his best weapon in any fight against Eggman. Just like when he's in the Tornado.

The first thing he learned as a qualified pilot, was to never fly during a thunderstorm. Not that he was ever going to, since he was already petrified about lightening. But it's true that if you want to survive a lightning bolt, you better be somewhere on the ground and away from any open spaces. The thunderstorms drag Tails down the same way the water slows Sonic. It cripples them.

And now that he thinks of it, just like Sonic, his fear isn't exactly based on either any bad experiences nor rationality. Sure, any pilot would prefer to touch his plane down instead of flying through a storm. But that logical reasoning doesn't explain why Tails always feels the urge to hide underneath his bed the moment the thunder would shake the foundation of their home. Or at least, to Tails it feels like the thunder has this kind of power.

He can tell himself over and over again that he is safe in the Mystic Ruins. Their house, engineered by the fox himself, could withstand nuclear attacks up to a level 3. And because of his deep fear of thunderstorms, he and Sonic even had a lightning conductor installed on their house; just to be safe. The worst that could happen if lightening would actually strike, which it had a one in a million chance to be happening, would be that a nearby tree could be fried and dropped onto the roof. And even that would never cause any real damage.

And yet Tails always freezes up when storms crop up. He'll just curl up into a ball and hide in the closest, smallest space he fits into, waiting for Sonic to find him and comfort him. The blue hedgehog holds him until the last of the thunder has long since rumbled off into the distance. It's one of the very few instances Sonic really acts as a paternal figure to the fox.

"We're here."

Knuckles' voice catches Tails off guard and effectively distracts him of his thoughts. In the distance Angel Island dooms up from behind the clouds. Tails gently guides the Tornado into a steady, downwards slope, aiming for the large patch of open fields below.

"Thanks for flying me home, Tails. I appreciate it."

Tails smiles, throwing Knuckles a small wave before the echidna jumps off of his spot on the wing the moment the Tornado soars low enough. When he sees his friend landing safely on the grass, Tails immediately pulls up again, making a sharp turn so he won't go crashing straight into a couple of trees.

When he stumbles upon the field, Knuckles quickly straightens. He waves a hand in Tails' direction but isn't sure if the fox can see him. He stays on the field untill the Tornado disappears from view. And for a moment, while standing there, Knuckles wonders if being afraid is ever as simple as the difference between black and white. Because after all, is it really a coincidence that ghosts, the only entities he can't help but feel uneasy around, are also the only enemies he ever encountered which he can't hit?

 **Hope you liked it. If you did, you know what to do. If you didn't, kindly tell me with constructive criticism and please remember that this is fanmade. I'm not making any money on this and I don't own the characters or their world.**

 **See ya! -Jay**


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